The person who sells you a home in Florida has legal obligations to alert you to the existence of certain conditions in the home itself.
These are disclosure requirements, and you need to know this information in order to make a truly informed purchase decision.
Impacts on material value
Florida Statutes state that certain aspects of a property need to be disclosed to potential buyers. This includes, for one, anything that might impact the material value of the property itself. They need to alert you either in writing or verbally about anything they have knowledge of, and this includes problems that are not necessarily visible to the eye.
However, note that property sellers in Florida do not have a legal obligation to disclose information about any deaths that may have occurred in the home.
Pending code enforcement actions
Next, they also have to alert you about whether or not there are pending actions for code enforcement. This can include matters like party wall construction, driveway or fence disputes and other issues.
Again, this has to be submitted in writing or told to you verbally. If a seller does not provide this information, it could result in fraud-related charges and penalties for them.
Various disclosures
Other various disclosure information includes homeowner’s association fees, if there are endangered species living on the property, or if there is a presence of radon gas, among other things. Be sure to know what a seller has to disclose before buying a piece of property so you avoid unpleasant surprises later down the line.
